Betsy Ross Flags
What is the Betsy Ross flag?
An early design of the flag of the United States, the flag is named after early American upholsterer and flag maker Betsy Ross.
Often referred to as the "first U.S. flag", there is no consensus on what the first U.S. flag looked like, nor who produced it. On June 1777, The Marine Committee of the Second Continental Congress passed a Flag Resolution establishing the first congressional description of official United States ensigns.
“Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”
Who designed the Betsy Ross flag?
According to historians, it is still not certain who actually created the first American flag but it is most popularly known that it was in fact Betsy Ross who created the first flag. As such, Betsy Ross was promoted as a patriotic role model for young girls and a symbol of women's contributions to American history.
Betsy Ross was an American upholsterer who was credited by her relatives in 1870 with the making of America's first flag. Ross's grandson, William Canby, presented a research paper to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in which he claimed that his grandmother had "made with her hands the first flag" of the United States. Canby dates the historic moment based on Washington's journey to Philadelphia, a year before the Second Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act of June 1777.
Who was Betsy Ross?
She was an American upholsterer and flag maker Betsy Ross. Born on January 1, 1752 in Gloucester City, New Jersey, Betsy Ross was the eighth of seventeen children. She learned to sew from a great aunt, Sarah Elizabeth Ann Griscom. After her schooling at a Quaker-run state school, her father apprenticed her to an upholsterer named William Webster.
What is the design of the Betsy Ross flag?
With 13 alternating red-and-white stripes and stars in a field of blue, the flag's' distinguishing feature is thirteen 5-pointed stars arranged in a circle. These stars represent the 13 colonies that fought for their independence during the American Revolutionary War. There are 13 stars in the Betsy Ross flag arranged in a circle. The circle generally represented unity between the states, with no state more dominant than any other.
Early American flags featured stars with various numbers of points, but the five-pointed star is a defining feature of the Betsy Ross legend. The flag colors' significance are as follows: “White signifies purity and innocence. Red hardiness and valor and Blue the color of the Chief signifies vigilance, perseverance, and justice.”
What is the significance of the Betsy Ross flag today?
Seeking to promote national pride and unity, the Continental Congress adopted the national flag. "Resolved: that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."
The story of the origin of the Betsy Ross flag enabled Americans to be able to identify with one specific item of patriotic meaning and nostalgia. The flag of yesterday as well as the flag of today is one which is readily identifiable and offers a shared symbolism of patriotism which truly embraces the American spirit.
Today, Betsy Ross has been featured in different forms of media as well as postage stamps; even a bridge was named after her. The Betsy Ross Bridge, also known as the Ross Memorial Bridge, spans the Delaware River from the City of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania to Pennsauken, New Jersey. The steel bridge finished construction in 1974, and opened in April 1976.